


Dead Inside

by Whilhelmina_Prince



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: M/M, college randl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 04:17:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9303782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whilhelmina_Prince/pseuds/Whilhelmina_Prince
Summary: Link is getting ready to propose, and Rhett isn't ready for a future without his best friend





	

**Author's Note:**

> “Nothing burns like the cold. But only for a while. Then it gets inside you and starts to fill you up, and after a while you don’t have the strength to fight it.”― George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
> 
> Holiday Ficathon 2K16

“I think I’m going to do it, Rhett.”

Rhett looked up from the textbook he wasn’t reading. “Do what?”

Link sat cross-legged on the top bunk, wringing his hands. “Propose.”

Rhett felt the slightest hint of a chill in his bones. Ever since Link and Christy had gotten serious, he and Link had spent less and less time together. Their dorm room, ever warm with laughter and light, had grown colder as Link spent less time there. Now it was just Rhett and an empty room. It had been weeks since Rhett had really smiled.

Lost in thought, Rhett flinched as a pillow hit him in the arm. “Earth to Rhett … did you hear me?”

“To Christy?”

“Of course to Christy, you dork. It’s not like I’ve got a harem of girls to pick from.”

Rhett nodded. “Right. Obviously.”

He turned back to the textbook, its words swirling on the page. 

“Don’t you have anything to say?” Link’s voice was small and distant.

Rhett shrugged. 

“Thought you’d be happy for me.”

“I am.”

It was a lie. But Rhett didn’t know why. He should be happy for Link. He had found somebody he wanted to spend his life with. That was the point, wasn’t it? To find somebody to grow old with?

“Whatever, man,” Link said. “I’m going to bed.”

Rhett heard Link flop down and pull the covers over his head. He cringed as he heard him roll toward the wall. There was nothing in the world that felt worse than having Link mad at him. 

For so many years, it had been Rhett and Link, their lives intertwined at every turn, bonded by blood. Or so he thought. Was this where their paths would finally divide?

Rhett shivered. 

Too consumed with his thoughts to study, he turned off the lights and climbed into bed, covering himself with his own blankets. But he couldn’t get warm. Not with Link right above him, so close, but so very far. Link, just a few feet away, was looking toward a future without Rhett in it.

He couldn’t be mad, though, could he? Wasn’t this what happened to everyone? They go to college, graduate, get jobs, get married, have kids. Most people drifted from their high school friends eventually. People change and leave old lives behind. 

But somehow, Rhett had never thought that would happen to him and Link. He’d never imagined a future without Link in it.  

“You’re bein’ stupid,” he muttered to himself. Link getting engaged didn’t mean the end of their friendship. They weren’t even done with college yet. 

He closed his eyes, but sleep was elusive. He drifted off, only to wake with a terrible sense of emptiness and dread gnawing at his gut. Each time he woke, the only thing that soothed him back to slumber was the sound of Link’s soft snoring above him, reassuring him that his friend, his other half, was still there.

When Rhett woke, the late morning sun was streaming through the blinds and Link was gone. He hadn’t bothered to wake Rhett, and he’d missed his first class.

But who cared? It didn’t matter. 

Without bothering to shower, Rhett got dressed and headed out. He would make his second class, at least. 

The wind was harsh that day, its bitter blast leaving Rhett icy and raw, inside and out. As much as he tried to tell himself that things between them wouldn’t change, all he could picture was a future where the sun was dim and cool.

He didn’t see Link until late that night. By then, he was frozen and numb. It was the only way to avoid the crushing pain that would set in if he tried to face what was coming.

When Link walked in, Rhett was already in his boxers, ready for bed. Link dropped his bag and hung up his coat before starting to undress.

In that minute, Rhett tried to speak a million times. But his lips were iced shut. None of the hundreds of thoughts in his mind could come out.

Link paused at the foot of the bed. Rhett could see the shake in his hands.

“Are you going to talk to me, Rhett?”

All of those thoughts flashed before him. _Don’t do it. Don’t leave me behind. I need you._ _I love you. Please._ But what came out was, “About what?”

Link let out an exasperated sigh. “You know what? Screw you, man. I thought you were my best friend. But obviously, you don’t care about me or us. So whatever.”

In a flash, Rhett was out of the bed. With little effort at all, he tackled Link, pinning him to the bed.

“Oh. You’re dead. Real mature, Rhett.”

Rhett let his full weight press Link into the bed. He closed his eyes, squeezing out a single tear. “I’m dead,” he whispered.  _ I’m dying inside. _

“Rhett?”

He heard the shudder in Link’s voice. 

“Don’t do it, Link.” His voice was raspy, his throat dry with the pain of holding back tears.

“Why? Why shouldn’t I?” Link asked, defying Rhett, begging for the truth.

But Rhett couldn’t say it. The words were stuck. He rolled off Link, pressing his back to the cold wall. Link shifted and met his eyes.

“Why, Rhett?”

And at last, Rhett saw the tears in Link’s eyes. It made them sparkle.

“Don’t you know, Link?”

“Can’t you say it?”

Rhett squeezed his eyes shut, ashamed of himself. Not because of what he felt, but because he couldn’t bring himself to admit it. He should have been better than that. For Link’s sake, he needed to be better than that.

But instead, he took Link’s hand, weaving their fingers together. He pressed his lips to the back of Link’s hand. 

Link’s face softened and he smiled, bringing Rhett’s hand to his own lips to return the gesture. Perhaps they didn’t need words after all.

Deep in Rhett’s heart, a thaw began.

“Are you still …?”

Link shook his head. “I was never going to.”

Rhett’s brow furrowed. 

It was Link’s turn to look ashamed. 

“I didn’t know how … how to tell you … and I wasn’t sure if you …”

Rhett squeezed Link’s hand. “I wasn’t sure, either. If you did, I mean.”

“We’re a couple of idiots, aren’t we?”

“Yup.”

They stayed there, gazing into each other’s eyes, for a long time, neither sure what to do next.

It was Rhett who broke the silence. “Do you … want to stay down here with me?”

Link nodded. “Yeah. That’d be nice.”

Without unclasping their hands, Rhett pulled up the blanket, covering them both. Tentatively, Link curled in closer, until their faces were only a breath apart.

Rhett leaned in, just barely touching his lips to Link’s, letting them rest there in the limbo just before a kiss. At last, Link closed that final space between them, affirming what had been there all along, and sealing them for eternity.

They fell asleep, warm and content, tangled in one another.


End file.
